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Congress provided $136 billion or more in funding for recovery from hurricanes and other disasters from 2011 through 2013, according to a report from the Center for American Progress. No federal agency had tracked the total spending on such efforts, the report said. "If we don't even know how much natural disasters are costing us, then Congress is going to keep under-budgeting for disaster relief and recovery. And lawmakers will end up doing deficit spending to pay for it," report co-author Daniel Weiss said.

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The top 100 consumer electronics companies generated record revenues of $136 billion last year, following a plateau in 2014, according to TWICE's Top 100 CE Retailers Report. Best Buy led the pack, followed by Amazon, Wal-Mart and Apple, with the top four CE retailers accounting for 65% of sales from all 100 companies.

A University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center study found that treating the 1.6 million eligible hepatitis C patients in the U.S. with new direct-acting antivirals would cost all payers $136 billion to $188 billion in the next five years. Lead researcher Jagpreet Chhatwal said, "The best strategy is to treat everyone. Unfortunately, we are not seeing it happening in practice because of the cost of treatment."

States affected the most by Hurricane Sandy and its remnants are continuing their recovery efforts half a year after the storm hit the region. Losses from the storm are estimated at $50 billion, which is the second-highest total behind Hurricane Katrina, according to the National Hurricane Center. The National Flood Insurance Program has settled $6.7 billion in claims payouts in New Jersey and New York, data show. Federal disaster aid for victims and affected communities has surpassed $60 billion, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided hundreds of millions in housing grants and other assistance in New York and New Jersey.

The Japanese government, headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is expected to announce Monday $136 billion of fiscal stimulus measures aimed at restoring the contracting economy to growth, according to reports by Japanese news media. Finance Minister Taro Aso has said that the government isn't required to follow a previously adopted 44 trillion-yen cap on the issuance of new bonds.